“Fuck,” I hissed out, bringing up a hand to rub my heavy lids. “The life we’re living up there and the way they have made us fear you is all an intricate lie.”
“That would make a lot of sense as to why there has been a serious decline in the relationships between the Trifectas and their women,” Axton agreed. “Despite Trifectas finding their matches occasionally, even fewer of them actually get to enjoy time with their mate. Many of them have killed themselves out of terror of being down here and in the Specters’ presence.”
Pure rage rolled through my veins, lighting my entire body up. “I have to make this right. I have to bring the truth to The Above.”
And suddenly I had found my purpose in life. I had gone these almost twenty-five years not knowing what I wanted to do with it. Part of that was the fault of the fear that was struck into me daily by the government, but the majority of it was that I had felt lost.
I wouldn’t just go home to my family like a lost puppy when I finally had the chance. No, I would set the fucking record straight with how the life we were forced to endure was a sham.
Chapter Nine
ROWEN
Fury, spurred by jealousy and fear, slammed back into me as I came into the room and saw Sera wrapped around Axton in her sleep. She turned to him, seeking comfort. Envy sizzled in my veins, chased by self-loathing at the sight. My shadows twisted in anxious knots, and my lips—the only corporeal part of me—curled downward in distaste.
Trifectas weren’t resentful of one another. We supported our brethren, just like we supported our mate, but that was before Paratiisi became a desolate wasteland—before we became Specters and questioned everything about our existence. Even with Sera as our mate, there was no guarantee that our Trifecta would stay together.
What if she was like the other human women and just hiding it well?
What if she took her life?
What if she fled from us?
How would we go on when Sylan and Axton were already enamored with her?
Not that I blamed them, but I refused to give my heart to this woman when she most likely was going to crush it. It was in the way she shifted her eyes, tucked her tongue into her cheek, and the general anxiousness about her that spoke of her need to run.
I knew it in my heart—given the first chance, Sera would flee, and it was going to absolutely destroy Axton and Sylan.
That couldn’t happen.
I knew I needed to do everything to convince Sera this was her true home, but I also needed to remain strong for my brothers. It was a conundrum. While I wanted to hold her in my arms and tell her sweet words that would get her to stay, I also couldn’t help but push away from her. This connection we felt to her was too intense for someone we just met. It confirmed how I had felt like the bonds to our chosen were forced by a greater power.
I hated myself for it, though. I wanted to be the one wrapped around Sera as she slept, giving her comfort. Secretly, I wished to give her love and to receive hers, but that wasn’t meant to be for me.
I was going to be the one that kept my Trifecta together by keeping my wits and logic about. I wouldn’t fall under her spell, no matter how tempting.
With a scowl, I turned away, but Sylan floated into my vision. Even though he couldn’t see my face, I felt that he was reading my expression and the meaning behind it. Being bound together as a unit for centuries had allowed us to sense one another’s emotions, even though we no longer could see the physical cues of our bodies or faces.
How long had it been since I’d looked another being in the eyes and they looked into mine?
So long I’d almost forgotten what our kind looked like. A light smirk tipped my lips as I recalled our true forms. Humans called us ‘monsters’—and for good reason.
We were.
But not the monsters Sera thought. Our outside forms might be terrifying, but we were no different from humans. We craved the same things—love, security, and a home.
“Go lie down with them,” Sylan suggested, tugging me from my thoughts, but I just waved a hand dismissively.
“Not tonight, another time,” I lied, knowing damn well that was much too intimate of a position for me to ever be in. That’s how barriers were broken and hearts crushed to dust, and I had no intention of allowing that to happen.
“You hurt her feelings,” Sylan persisted, making my scowl deepen at his accusation. I didn’t want to hurt Sera, but she didn’t understand. Nobody did. “What are you thinking? Open up to me, brother. We can’t work together as a team if you don’t let anyone in,” Sylan counseled, but I shrugged him away, floating out of the room that we’d created for our mate.
The true miracle was how we managed to create it, considering the lack of resources in our world, but every Trifecta was allotted minute amounts of energy from the original Queen’s crystal for the sole purpose of creating a haven for our intended mates.
As Specters, we were just ghostly wisps of smoke, but these tendrils were tangible. We could still touch and feel with them, but no one—including ourselves—could see our true form. We were like shadows.
We toiled away in the dirt and grime of the land to carve out a foundation to build around, tying it into the natural hot springs that formed in the area. We knew that humans prized the glittering stones so abundant in Paratiisi and speckled the grotto with their beauty to awe our mate. Now that Sera was here, the time it took felt like it was worth it—everything was worth it for Sera—but it was that exact feeling that had my walls slamming into place. I knew she couldn’t give herself over to us—she didn’t trust us any more than I trusted her.
“We need to go before the leaders to be presented,” I announced, knowing this needed to be addressed sooner, rather than later.
At this, Axton sat up, and I realized he had been awake and was listening to every word I said. “No, we can’t go yet!” he hissed, attempting to try not to wake Sera.
She looked so peaceful in his arms. Like she knew she was safe here with us and allowed her worries to melt away, even if for this brief moment.
I jerked my gaze away from them, hating how it had me questioning my stance that quickly. For a second, I questioned whether her own feelings were changing. Would she choose to stay? Would she choose us?
“Why not?” Sylan wondered, echoing my own thoughts. “They’ll be waiting for us, and it’s required.”
Axton shook his head again. “I don’t want to go until Sera’s fully marked. It’s too dangerous to go before then, and you know that.”
Shit, I hadn’t even thought of that. How could I have forgotten? That complicated things greatly.
I snorted. “We don’t even know if it will happen.”
“It’ll happen,” Sylan urged. “Her body craves ours. She needs our touch, and she needs our love.” I felt like the last part was directed more to me, but I held my smart remark back.
“I don’t want to go to the capital without her being marked,” Axton reiterated, his anger boiling to the surface clear as day. “Others might challenge us on our claim to Sera.”
At this, I nodded. Axton was right—to go before the council without our mate fully marked was foolish. It was an open invitation for another Trifecta to fight us and potentially claim her as their mate. We were fated, which was made clear by our crystal, and Sera could only be ours, but our kind was desperate.
Desperation was a nasty trait to have. It had allowed for loopholes in our ways of life that we had thought permanent and sacred—such as the crystal choosing our match—but with the decline of our population, it was clear our makeshift leaders would try anything to keep us alive.
Haste was of the utmost importance, but it had also led to very grim relations between a chosen and her Trifecta, we had heard. Forcing a female to complete the bond was something we would never do with Sera, but it also placed her in a very dangerous situation if we went without it being complete.
“We need to wait till we mark her,” I agreed with him.
/> “Besides, we’re only as strong as our mate allows us to be,” Axton chimed in. “Once she’s fully marked, we can draw enough energy and become corporeal again. We will be one of the very few Trifectas in all of society who’s not a Specter any longer, but right now we are not in any condition to fight and be certain we will win. Not until Sera is fully marked and claimed.”
I ran a wispy hand over my shadowed head in agitation.
We were damned if we did, and damned if we didn’t.
“Perhaps we could persuade–”
“We said we’d give her the opportunity to choose, which means the time to become comfortable with us, the time to–”
“We don’t have the luxury of time!” I snapped, and I sensed him flinching. “So, how do we keep her safe?”
Axton sighed, a noise that sounded extremely close to admitting defeat. “Rowen’s right. We don’t have the time to woo her like she wants—like we want. So what do we do?”
“Obviously we won’t be forcing her,” Sylan scoffed. “This is her heart—her trust in us—that’s on the line. We cannot abuse that when we’ve given her this promise. Even if she says yes right now, it’d be the ‘yes’ of her body, not the ‘yes’ of her heart, and that’s what we want.”
His words caused a dull ache to unfurl inside my chest because I knew he was right. Deep down, even if it was a forced feeling, the thing that I longed for was Sera’s heart, but I didn’t deserve it. I couldn’t give her mine, so I shouldn’t—couldn’t—demand hers…right?
“How long do you think before we’re officially expected to report to the capital?” I wondered, mind whirling, desperately trying to come up with a plan.
“Three days tops,” Axton grumbled, upset with that timeline.
I pursed my lips, the only solid thing on me, wondering how to woo our human mate. Logic dictated this would take time. Sera was smart and cautious. I wondered if she couldn’t give us her heart, if maybe she could offer her trust instead.
As if Sylan could read my mind, he murmured, “Maybe if we explained this to Sera…”
I felt a shift in Axton. He didn’t want to tell Sera anything, didn’t want to burden her with our past, but eventually she would have to know, much to my displeasure.
“Perhaps you’re right,” Axton conceded to Sylan.
Unlike me, Sylan softly hummed his happiness with the decision to tell our mate more. He preferred to be transparent, whereas I preferred to be more secretive.
It was dangerous to tell Sera everything. She could flee and tell everything to the rulers of her land. How we were perilously close to becoming an extinct species with the power of crystals dimming more and more. They would send their armies down here to crush us once and for all.
Unless we somehow persuaded her to be on our side and stay here. But what could Sylan, Axton, and I offer her down here, except our undying love? And could I even offer her that?
We claimed she deserved to be pampered like a princess, but with our land failing, what could we really offer her? The truth was, eventually Paratiisi wouldn’t be inhabitable by anyone. If we didn’t find our True Queen and restore the crystal to its former glory, everything would crumble into dust around us.
And this was my deepest fear—that we would lose Sera, someway, somehow.
Our leaders wouldn’t let that happen though. We all knew what would occur as a last resort. The humans would face their greatest fear—monsters invading once more, seeking out our Queen.
But we weren’t the bad guys; we never were. We were just a dying race trying to make a compromise with the only other species that could offer us what we truly needed.
Chapter Ten
SERA
Strange dreams plagued me, snippets of The Below and The Above meshing together until I couldn’t tell what was what. I woke up frightened and dripping with sweat, but the sight of Axton and Sylan wrapped around me calmed my racing heart. Rowen was still nowhere to be found, and I wondered what that meant.
I blinked, trying to get the sleep out of my eyes and dispel any lingering images from the dream. The room was still dim from the glow of the crystal, and I couldn’t tell if it was day or night outside.
I wondered if this was different than it had been before the demise of the Queen, when the crystal lost its strength. They did say that it had been a much different climate, but how different exactly?
The hot spring was creating steam in the corner of the cave that beckoned, but I didn’t want to leave the warm cocoon of the bed my mates had created for me. Instantly, my mind fixated on the fact that I’d just called three monsters “my mates” with ease. I’d only spent one day with them and already was calling them mine multiple times over.
This did not bode well for me.
Clearly, I needed to find a way to get back home as soon as possible. For multiple reasons. The first being that I had to bring the truth of what I learned here back home, to change the way we were forced to live. The second being that I felt myself dangerously close to admitting that I would miss these monsters when I left.
Some distance was required to clear my head. Knowing this, I worked hard to not disturb Axton and Sylan as I eased out of the bed before creeping around the heated grotto.
“Going somewhere?” a voice asked.
Whirling around, I realized from the voice it was Rowen.
“I’m just looking for the bathroom,” I lied, holding my hands together as I attempted to not look suspicious.
Even though I couldn’t see his face, I felt like he gave me a knowing look that said he knew exactly what I was doing, and my heart thundered inside of my chest. Hitching a finger in the opposite direction, Rowen silently directed to the bathroom. I nodded sharply and quickly scampered off before he could stare into my soul and read my every emotion.
After I relieved myself, I came back out to find Axton and Sylan awake. There was no chance I could escape now. I would just have to think of something later—when Rowen wasn’t around. The guy was still hovering around as if trying to discern my thoughts.
It made me shift uncomfortably. I needed to get him off my back and the best way was to distract him.
Hiding my nervousness under a layer of snark, I questioned, “Is somebody going to feed me? I mean, do you guys eat something other than my orgasms?”
Sylan immediately moved to my side. “Of course we will get you some food, beauty. Do you have anything in mind?”
“Um…what are my options?” I wondered, curious about their food here but also assuming it wouldn’t be edible to the human palette—although, the food they fed me the night before had indeed been delicious.
Axton cocked his head as if to say he had something for me for breakfast. I could easily guess what it was. Grinning wickedly at him, I asked, “Something other than monster dick?”
My three mates chuckled and in turn my heart raced. I loved hearing their laughs.
“I’m sure we have some other options,” Sylan teased. “This way.”
Turning, he led me out of the bedroom and down a darkened hall. The walls were devoid of decoration, unlike those from The Above. I wondered if this was on purpose or just a nuance of their lifestyle. It was simple and showed they didn’t need frivolous items.
As we continued down, we passed a few stone archways without doors. I tried to peer inside, but the pitch black of the interiors didn’t tell me anything.
“Looking for something, Sera?” Rowen purred behind Sylan and me, and I tossed a scowl toward him over my right shoulder.
Insufferable, nosy man.
I was irritated at his question…mostly because he was right—I was looking for something.
A discreet exit.
“Just trying to look at my new home. I mean, it’s mine too, right?”
“Anything of ours is yours,” Sylan reassured with a soothing tone and my heart almost broke at the ease in which he said such sweet things while I was looking for escape routes. “We will give you an official tour after you
eat. We wouldn’t want you to get hangry, after all,” he joked, as if proud that he knew a term like that from The Above.
I rolled my eyes at his antics but was thankful that he broke up the tension that seemed to arise every time Rowen spoke. Finally, Sylan stopped in front of a room that actually had a door. Turning the knob, he led me inside of a dimly lit dining room. At least, I assumed it was the dining room. There was a table, and it was set with food, making me question everything before me.
Who did this?
Did they have a cook?
A maid?
A monstrous butler?
Did…Rowen do this?
No, that definitely wasn’t an option. It was clear he liked me enough to fuck my mouth, but there was no way he’d cooked food for me.
He was the only one awake and therefore the only logical choice, but it had been clear he was irritated with me. Squinting, I took in the four chairs dispersed around the long, rectangular table that appeared to be made of some dark, smooth material, but in the shadows, it was hard to tell.
“Do you have any more light?” I asked softly, afraid to hear the answer. It was just another thing The Above didn’t warn us about—how much we were going to miss the sun. What I wouldn’t give for even just a flashlight.
My monsters swayed almost uncomfortably.
“Paratiisi used to have light from the sun, but not anymore,” was all Sylan said, dejection pouring from those few words.
“But how do you see?” I inquired gently, wondering if they were as blinded as I was.
“Specters can see just fine in the dark—we’re made from it, after all,” Rowen answered, as if that should have been obvious.
“What happens when you solidify?” I asked, looking over at Sylan for an answer.
“We can see fine in either form.”
“But I can’t,” I whispered, a fear of this never-ending darkness down here bubbling up. Escape was futile if I couldn’t see.
Captured by the Monsters Page 7
